On this edition of Your Call, we discuss the violent mob that sought to keep Donald Trump in power on January 6.
Professor Robert Pape of the University of Chicago writes that "for decades, Americans have become used to thinking of right-wing extremism — or really extremism of any kind — as emanating from the awful edges of society. Extremists make up just a tiny fraction of the country, far less than 1 percent of the population — so the logic goes — and they are economically destitute, often unemployed, and come from the rural parts of the United States."
Based on his analysis of the over 1,000 individuals arrested or charged in connection with the January 6 attacks, he says the findings "paint a new, startling reality: The insurrectionist movement is mainstream, not simply confined to the political fringe."
Guests:
Robert A. Pape, professor of political science at the University of Chicago specializing in international security affairs, author and director of The Chicago Project on Security and Threats
Jeff Sharlet, best-selling author or editor of eight books, including The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, which was adapted into a Netflix documentary series, and his latest, The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War, and Professor in the Art of Writing and Director of Creative Writing at Dartmouth College
Resources:
Chicago Project on Security and Threats: American Face of Insurrection: Analysis of Individuals Charged for Storming the US Capitol on January 6, 2021
The Conversation: Is America enduring a ‘slow civil war’? Jeff Sharlet visits Trump rallies, a celebrity megachurch and the manosphere to find out
Foreign Policy: The Jan. 6 Insurrectionists Aren’t Who You Think They Are
Axios: More than 1,100 people have now faced Jan. 6 criminal charges
CNN: Percentage of Republicans who think Biden’s 2020 win was illegitimate ticks back up near 70%
